Tag: fritillary

October 2026 Talk: Bulbs for the Adventurous Gardener

Anne Barnard of Rose Cottage Plants giving a talk on bulbs. CABAHS October 2026

With nights drawing in and a chill in the air for our October meeting, it was a pleasure to welcome Anne Barnard of Rose Cottage Plants for her talk ‘Bulbs for the Adventurous Gardener’: an introduction to some of the newer and less well known spring and early summer bulbs with advice on how to grow them *.

Our tour through the bulb year started with Crocus. Although most appear late winter to early spring, a few like Crocus speciosus ‘Albus’ are Autumn flowering. This looks good grown through a dark leaved Heuchera, its leaves protecting bulbs from squirrels and mice.

Continue reading October 2026 Talk: Bulbs for the Adventurous Gardener

A visit to Perch Hill

A few weeks back Vija and I went to one of the open days at Sarah Raven’s farm Perch Hill in East Sussex. The preceding evening had seen torrential rain and an email arrived on the morning of the visit warning people of the muddy conditions and that a four wheel drive was essential. And they weren’t exaggerating… the field we were to park in was a mud slide with a tractor towing cars out of the mud! 

But the rain hadn’t affected the garden. The tulips, many of which were in pots,were stunning with the same colours used repeatedly throughout the garden. They were well labelled  so we could make a note of them and there seemed to be loads of new varieties and quite a lot in oranges and shades of reds. There were lots of pots with pastel shades too and it wasn’t just tulips. There was a whole bed planted with a tall variety of fritillary which you don’t see very often and is certainly different.

Tulips in Pot
Mixed border
The Oast Garden
The Vegetable Garden
Archway with pots of tulips
More pots of tulips
Pot of tulips in a mixed border
Pots of Frilly Violas on a table


Additionally there were displays in pots of some lovely frilly violas and the glasshouse was planted with ranunculus and  other early varieties of annuals. There were displays of early vegetables but they were small and obviously affected by the cold spring. And the tea and cakes were good too!

All in all a stunning display and worth a visit despite the mud and flooded roads.

Pat K